Financial stocks led the way on increasing optimism about President Donald Trump's economic agenda and increased expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will proceed with interest rate hikes in the year ahead.

Technology giant Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) hit a new high on news that Warren Buffett's investment firm almost quadrupled its stake in the iPhone manufacturer. According to a regulatory filing, Buffett's firm increased its total stake to 57.4 million shares last quarter.

Let's look at the numbers from Wednesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

DJIA Today: Dow Rallies as Fed Projects Additional Rate Hikes in 2017

The Dow Jones posted a 107-point gain Wednesday.

Shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) offered the biggest boost to the Dow after activist investor Nelson Peltz announced a $3.5 billion stake in the firm. This is the third-largest stake that Peltz's Trian Fund Management has ever taken in a company. Wall Street expects that Peltz will take an active role in helping the company divest its unprofitable brands and attempt to bolster its sales.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen appeared before the House and defended the central bank's role in helping the economy recover in the wake of the Great Recession. The Janet Yellen speech today was important because Yellen acknowledged that the U.S. economy remains weak. However, she defended the Federal Reserve's policies and said that they have done more to help the U.S. economy than hinder it.

"The economy has recovered more quickly, for example, than … European Union economies have in the aftermath of the crisis," Yellen said during her statement before Congress. "The Federal Reserve has put in place highly accommodative monetary policies meant to spur spending in the economy and restore low unemployment or to achieve the goal of maximizing employment and price stability as assigned to us by Congress."

It wasn't just Apple that received a Buffett bump Wednesday. Airline stocks were on the rise on word that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) had boosted its stake in the industry.

President Donald Trump welcomed the chief executives of Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), and six other major domestic retailers. During the meeting at the White House, Trump and the executives discussed corporate tax reform, infrastructure spending, and Trump's plan for a cross-border tax on foreign-made products. According to CNBC, retail executives were highly critical of the border tax proposal and said that such a fiscal policy plan was both "risky and unproven."

Crude oil prices were falling in afternoon trading after the Energy Information Administration announced a record build in U.S. crude inventories last week. The government agency reported that domestic crude stocks increased by 9.5 million barrels last week. That figure far outpaced analyst expectations by nearly three times the consensus forecast. The news was enough to offset increased optimism that OPEC members and Russia are on pace to reach their production cut targets in the months ahead.

While everyone seemed to focus on Janet Yellen's testimony, another big story that was sliding under the radar was happening in Congress.

During a House Ways and Means Committee meeting Tuesday, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) pushed on with his pressure to have President Trump's tax returns released. In fact, it appears that a war is set to take place on Capitol Hill as Pascrell is demanding at least 10 years of Donald Trump's tax returns.

Stock Market News and Top Stocks to Watch Today: Feb. 15, 2017

Shares of Groupon Inc. (Nasdaq: GRPN) rallied more than 21% after the company easily topped Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter. But there's another big reason why Groupon stock is rallying. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) announced it has taken a 5.7% stake in the online discount retailer. GRPN stock now up 38.7% year to date.

In deal news, shares of Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) added another 1.5% and touched an intraday 52-week high on news that the company is approaching a revised deal to sell its core assets to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Bloomberg reports the new deal is expected to cut roughly $250 million to $300 million from the original agreement.

Trump's Secret Weapon Against Chinese Aggression: Hostilities in the South China Sea now seem imminent, and the Trump administration could be on the verge of its first major crisis. But thanks to a small $6 U.S. defense firm with a top-secret new technology, China is about to be taken to the woodshed. Frankly, you have to see it to believe it…

How do I go about buying a stock? For inn stance, I own some Apple, but it is th Vanguard Capitol Opportunity Fund . It has 32%
Tech funds.
What's going on with Qualcomm? I read somewhere people are getting out of it. Is that true? Is it safe to buy? All their chips are patented for Apple iPhones. who at one point were going to buy it/merge with it.
Suzanne

By submitting your email address you will receive a free subscription to Money Morning and receive Money Morning Profit Alerts. You will also receive occasional special offers from Money Map Press and our affiliates. You can unsubscribe at anytime and we encourage you to read more about our privacy policy.

You can view our VQScore top-rated stocks now by entering your email below:

By submitting your email address you will receive a free subscription to VQScore and occasional special offers from Money Map Press and our affiliates. You can unsubscribe at anytime and we encourage you to read more about our privacy policy.

Today's Markets

DJIA82.66(0.35%)23,675.64

NASDAQ30.18(0.45%)6,783.91

S&P0.21(0.01%)2,546.16

AAPL2.13(1.30%)166.07

PG0.28(0.30%)92.49

BRK.A-2500.00(0.84%)294500.00

TGT0.99(1.54%)65.31

BBY0.26(0.50%)51.97

ABOUT MONEY MORNING

Money Morning gives you access to a team of ten market experts with more than 250 years of combined investing experience – for free. Our experts – who have appeared on FOXBusiness, CNBC, NPR, and BloombergTV – deliver daily investing tips and stock picks, provide analysis with actions to take, and answer your biggest market questions. Our goal is to help our millions of e-newsletter subscribers and Moneymorning.com visitors become smarter, more confident investors.

By submitting your email address you will receive a free subscription to Money Morning and receive Money Morning Profit Alerts. You will also receive occasional special offers from Money Map Press and our affiliates. You can unsubscribe at anytime and we encourage you to read more about our privacy policy.